Clarification about pictures on this blog

I have received a couple of queries regarding the pictures. All of them have been taken by my Canon Powershot 720IS in questionable lighting after the dish was prepared. I didn't put much thought into the presentation of the dishes; it is perhaps another thing to focus on in the future.

Matar Paneer

Matar paneer: another North Indian classic that can be prepared surprisingly quickly. I used this post http://www.indianfoodforever.com/vegetables/matar-paneer.html as a rough guideline. I think it can be summarized quite readily.

Important Note: Since I started making all these dishes, I have come to realize that cooking on low-medium flame is really the way to go. Trying to "save" some time by cooking on high flame invariably leads to mis-adventures.

Today's featured co-chef is my roommate Ashwin.


End-to-end time: 50 minutes

You will need:
Green peas (matar): I used roughly 300g of frozen peas that were microwaved until they became soft
Paneer (Indian cottage cheese): 200g, cut into reasonably-sized cuboids. If you are using frozen paneer, then put the pieces in the microwave for ~3 minutes (courtesy of Ashwin)
Tomatoes: 2
Onions: 2 medium-sized
Garlic (optional): finely chop one or two of the indivisible "things" that you can remove from the whole
Green chillies: 4
Ginger-garlic paste
Curd / yogurt
Coriander leaves and garam masala for garnishing

Procedure:
Chop one onion into tiny pieces.
Make a paste out of the other onion and the finely chopped garlic using a food processor.
Cut the tomatoes and green chillies finely and keep them aside.
Heat some oil / ghee in a pan and fry the paneer until it turns golden-brown on the exterior. Thanks to Ashwin, the paneer cuboids were delicate on the inside and delectably crispy on the outside.
Saute the chopped onion (not the paste) until some of the pieces start turning golden-brown.
Add some turmeric (not too much, just half a tsp) to the onions and also some ginger-garlic paste.
Add the onion paste and continue to saute for a couple of minutes.
Add the tomatoes and chillies. Continue to saute for a few minutes until you are convinced that there is no rawness.
Now add the peas and paneer. Mix.
Add some curd, around 3-4 tbsp, and salt to taste. Mix. Let it cook for around 5-7 minutes.
Add some water (1-2 cups). Then cover the cooking vessel and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Needless to say, you should occasionally uncover the vessel and give the contents a stir to prevent them from sticking to the bottom.
Turn off the stove. Garnish it with the coriander leaves and a little bit of garam masala. (DO NOT toss in too much garam masala as it is uncooked and will leave a very raw taste in your mouth.)

Garlic Spinach Dal

I made Andhra-style spinach-dal with roasted garlic last Wednesday. The roasted-garlic gives it a completely different, good different, flavour and I highly recommend you try it. I made the dish following the recipe below courtesy of http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/archives/2006/06/26/spinach-garlic-dal/.

End-to-end time: 60 minutes

Pressure cook:
½ cup of toor dal and half teaspoon of turmeric in 1 cup of water.
Cook the dal until it falls apart.
Mash the dal to smooth paste using a wood masher and keep it aside.

Preparation:
1 bunch of spinach - cut into small pieces (Arun's note: I took frozen cut spinach and microwaved it.)
1 small whole bulb of garlic - peel and chop garlic into small pieces
4 dried red chillies - cut them into small pieces (Arun's note: I didn't have red chillies; so I tossed in some chilli powder sort of midway into the process.)
Soak marble-sized tamarind in half-cup of water for juice (Arun's note: I cannot emphasize this enough- DO NOT add more than a small cup of tamarind juice. Otherwise the dal will end up with a more-than-desired sour taste.)
Arun's note: Make tomato puree using two tomatoes if you like your dal with tomatoes.

Tadka:
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a big saucepan.
Add and toast:
Dried red chilli pieces
Few pieces of curry leaves
One teaspoon of each - cumin and mustard seeds. Saute.
Stir in garlic. Saute them until golden. Take care not to burn. Add the finely chopped spinach and saute until the leaves wilt and come together.
Arun's note: I could not get myself to make dal without tomatoes; so I sliced a couple of tomatoes and put them in the food processor to form a paste. I added it at this point and let it cook until the rawness went away.

Stir in and Simmer:
Stir in smoothly mashed toor dal to this sauted spinach-garlic mixture.
Add a tablespoon of tamarind juice, also half teaspoon each of - chilli powder and salt or to taste.
Stir to combine. If the dal is too tight, add about half cup of water.
Mix. Close the lid and simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat.

Channa Masala with Scrambled Eggs

Everyone who's anyone knows that Channa Masala is the most delectable Indian dish of the world. Following the instructions of the person in this video yielded an eminently decent channa masala dish.

Of course, no Indian meal is complete without a curry. The lack of any vegetables in the refrigerator made that a matter of worry. (Ahem, ...) But this person taught me how to make scrambled eggs in a flurry. (It had to happen.) In fact, I highly recommend you try it his way. The foaming butter fills up each egg-curd and the overall result is just divine. A note to the Indian palate: you might want to add some extra pepper and salt.

That's all for now, folks.

Oh, one final thing. In the future, there might be attempts (that may be captured on video for posterity's sake) to master all the chicanery that makes one appear to be a gawd-chef (think of cracking an egg with one hand, etc.).